The bed is soft. The bed is creaky. These 2 facts add up to a possible not-greatest night of sleep ever but it’s ok. My ribs are still hurting from my fall nearly 2 weeks ago, so I’m not sleeping especially well either way. But I get a good enough night of sleep, and we’re not in NJ right now, so this is good for something.
We meet Steve & Joy for breakfast in the dining room and there aren’t a lot of people there. We’re in this odd, mask-on mask-off mask-uncertain thing here but we cobble by with what we have to deal with. I get the eggs. And the sausage. He screws up my sausage request.
Today we’re going to venture back into Vermont and ride Ascutney, We’d been here 2 years ago with Alex & Mark and it was good, even if it was challenging. We were here in the fall so the temps were a lot better. Today would be a challenge with the heat, for sure. We park at the outdoor center where very few people are parked today. The crowds in Vermont are certainly not out of control.
The day is absurdly humid. At some points I have so much sweat running off me that when I bend over, the sweat streams off, as if I’m a faucet left slightly on. It is impossible for me to replace the amount of sweat I’m losing and as we go forward, I get more and more dehydrated. Pedal strokes that were easy in the beginning get more and more tiresome.
The terrain is a bit less awesome than I remembered but it was a rough day to be outside. In the fall it’s certainly going to be more tolerable.
We finish up, and I roll into the shade and have a seat, stewing in my own sweat. I have to come to terms with the idea that I may not be built for this anymore, where “this” is the sweltering heat. I used to be able to endure it, and while it would hurt, I never suffered quite this much. Now, it’s absolutely draining on the hot days after the 2 hour mark.
That said, the ride was good, the day was good, and when we were all said & done I felt fine.
Strava link can be found here.
For future reference, here are the trails we rode and some notes on them:
| Trail | Comment |
| Wind Up | Pretty standard & easy way to get up the field |
| Last Mile (Climb) | The end of the climb, when you stop switching back and go behind the ski lift house. |
| Gracie’s Loop | This was fine, decent. Done CW, trail goes up then down. The down is decent fun |
| Last Mile | After Gracie’s loop we return to do that new DH trail |
| Just Smile | Solid new trail, needs to be bedded in but was built with intention. |
| Picnic & Raina’s Run | Connector trails to get up top, for the most part, to avoid Utility Road. |
| Falls Trail | Must do because of the falls, pictured in this post |
| Nimbus | Up, gentle climb |
| Cloud Climber | Also a reasonable climb |
| Burke Loop | More reasonable climb. These 3 trails make up the climb up. |
| Lynx | Pretty solid technical trail, tougher with the greasy rocks |
| Escalator | Same as Lynx, but honestly less good. Actually this trail is totally forgettable and not worth doing unless you intend to hit Rock & Roll. |
| Nirvana | Really just a connector and oddly named |
| Paradise Hill Flow | I really enjoyed this but I wish I knew it better. |
| Gravel Pit | Connector |
| Road to Paradise | Connector |
| Cloud Climber | Back to where we picked it up before |
| Nimbus | Down this time, was solid |
| Picnic | This was mostly field. Not sure this is the most ideal way to end these loops but it gets you back fast |
| Home Again | The return, nothing amazing |
For lunch, Steve picks Tuckerbox, which is a Turkish place in White River Junction. When we get there the waitress makes us give our names, numbers, and we had to verify that we were from one of the “safe” counties in NJ. When I first said NJ, she got a leery look on her face but when I assured her we had checked, she breathed a virtual sigh of relief that we had done our homework.
She then told me she used to live in NJ, which is something I get a lot when traveling. I guess a lot of people lived here.
We start with hummus then split a gyro and falafel. It’s all amazing, and perfect, an excellent meal to top off the ride today.
After lunch we drive back towards Woodstock to Quechee Gorge to hike. We start at the bridge, go to the bottom where pretty much everyone goes, then reverse direction and go back to the top and then some. It was a bit of a mob scene at the bottom and it’s probably not even a sliver of what the place would normally get.
Once at the bridge we go the other way to the dam, where pretty much absolutely nobody goes. This is a shame for them, as this was a pretty awesome view of things.
After the dam we keep walking upriver to the furthest parking lot. We had actually seen a few people going to the dam. Up here we only saw a single woman fishing and a few people in boats or tubes off to the side. It was really barren on this side. After this we turn around and walk back to the bridge and the cars.
Strava link can be found here.
When we get back to the Inn I run to the (life saving) store next door and get some tea and grapes, which are just an awesome treat right now. We also find out that nothing is open for dinner, since it’s the 4th of July. I guess there’s not much need to go out on the holiday in town, but the girl in the lobby gives us a list of places to try in other towns if we want.
After a shower we decide to get some cheese, crackers, and salami from the store next door and sit on the picnic table outside and eat various things we have. We ate a really late lunch so just topping off is more than enough to get us through to tomorrow.
Back at the Inn we sit outside for a bit and read, then head out back when we hear some fireworks. We get a small show then it seems to end. The sun sets and we head inside and then hear a cacophony of additional fireworks, but we’re both too tired to get up and look. We hit the sack and call it a day.
Traveling Normandy 
Great post 😁
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[…] to the new “flow” trails which ended up being the same trails we found last year when we were here with Joy & Steve. I look at that post and remember for a brief time I listed out the trails we rode. But I soon […]
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